Our History

TPS was founded in 1996 by two engineers, Muhammad Sohail and Mobushir Rahim. Our first customer was the leading bank in Lebanon, Credit Libanais, where we deployed our breakthrough EFT switch.

In 1997, United Bank Limited signed a deal with us to deploy our EFT Switch. That same year, we also saw our first regional switch certification with Qatar’s National ATM and POS switch (NAPS)

A few years after our launch, we won Pakistan’s leading bank as our customer. Habib Bank Limited deployed our EFT Switch to transform its payments infrastructure. After successful deployments in South Asia and the Middle East, Egypt’s CitiBank became a TPS customer and used our ATM Reporting and Monitoring solution to remotely monitor its entire ATM network. During this time, our EFT Switch became certified by VISA, GCCNET and BENEFIT (Bahrain’s Electronic Network For Financial Transactions).

We released a complete ATM Reporting and Monitoring solution in 2000 and ABN AMRO Bank came onboard as one of the first banks to use a TPS EFT switch and CMS.

In 2001, we launched a solution to drive cash and cheque deposit machines (CCDM). Emirates Bank International (EBI) and National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) became the first banks to use our CCDM driving solution.

ABNAMRO Bank and Askari Bank joined the ABN AMRO switch, Pakistan’s first online inter-bank ATM switch powered by TPS. Habib Bank Limited and Soneri Bank Limited joined the switch and the ABN AMRO switch evolved into 1LINK.

In 2002, we launched our Internet Banking and Bill Payments solutions and deployed them first at Askari Bank. Meanwhile in UAE, Standard Chartered followed EBI and NBAD to deploy our CCDM driving solution.

In 2003, a consortium of banks created 1LINK, Pakistan’s national payment switch. TPS played an integral part in the formation of 1LINk as our EFT Switch solution not only powered the 1LINK shared switch, but our solution enabled all 11 leading Pakistani banks on the network to provide shared ATM services across Pakistan.

We launched Third Party Funds Transfer (3PFT) in 2004. Habib Bank Limited, ABN AMRO Bank and Soneri Bank Limited soon adopted the technology to offer shared services to their customers. This became the foundation on which Inter-Bank Funds transfer (IBFT) was later rolled out by 1LINK.

In addition to signing multiple customers in South Asia, TPS signed its first customers in Jordan and Oman, namely Jordan Kuwait Bank and Oman Arab Bank.

We launched and enabled the IBFT service for Askari Bank Limited and Habib Bank Limited, and landed BRAC Bank as our first customer in Bangladesh.

Tameer Bank (now Telenor Bank) became the first customer in Pakistan to leverage the value of biometric support in our transaction switching solution and introduce biometric ATMs to their customers. Tameer Bank customers were able to easily withdraw cash from ATMs using their fingerprint as an alternative to debit cards.

2006 earmarked a decade of success at TPS. It was then that 1LINK used our technology to launch IBFT across Pakistan. 1LINK customers at member banks could now transfer funds to each other. This was a historical milestone which took the digital payments ecosystem in Pakistan to the next level.

In 2006, we also launched IRIS, our next-generation transaction switch. IRIS was the result of in-depth R&D efforts coupled with our decade-long experience in cards and payment solutions.

We inaugurated our new office in Dubai to provide first line support and services to our customers in the MEA region. Meanwhile in South Asia, TPS powered BRAC Bank and ITCL (QCash) to launch Bangladesh’s national payment switch.

The Commercial Bank of Kuwait (CBK) became our first customer to deploy IRIS, which continued to reinforce confidence in the power and scalability of the platform.

In 2008, our multi-channel switch, IRIS, enabled Ufone to launch UPayments. Ufone customers could now carry out a range of USSD based banking transactions using their phones. Pakistan’s leading bank, Habib Bank Limited, was the first to join UPayments, enabling its customers to avail mobile banking services. Simultaneously in Qatar, Doha Bank signed an agreement with TPS to deploy the IRIS platform to transform its payments infrastructure. Because of its demonstrable track record in a very short span of time, IRIS received recognition at APICTA through the P@SHA awards in 2008.

TPS won the 2009 Brand of the Year award in the e-Banking solutions category. The award marked TPS as the most innovative cards and payments solution provider in Pakistan. During this time, Al Fardan Exchange in UAE awarded TPS a contract for the EFT Switch and Prepaid Card Management System powered by IRIS, and Tadhamon International Islamic Bank in Yemen signed TPS to deploy the IRIS Switch and Alternate Delivery Channel Manager.

In 2009, TPS expanded its footprint into the rapidly booming African region when T2S, a wholly owned subsidiary of Group BPCE, chose IRIS to drive its cards and payments processing platform in Central Africa.

Network International in UAE selected IRIS Payment Platform to drive prepaid card services in the Middle East and T2SA from Cameroon in Central Africa deployed our multi-institution debit host switch.

In Pakistan, United Bank Limited (UBL) also deployed IRIS Multi-Channel Payment Platform to drive payments.

In 2013, IRIS went live at HBL to power the payments infrastructure for one of the largest banks in Pakistan. In UK, Union National Bank became our first international customer to deploy TPS Internet Banking Solution. In the UAE, TPS won a contract from the Central Bank of UAE, CBUAE, for our Ecommerce Payment Gateway Solution. In Bahrain, Bank Nizwa successfully deployed IRIS.

Having successfully deployed various cards and payment solutions in the Middle East, TPS had earned the trust of major commercial and central banks, telecoms, processors and other financial institutions. The Central Bank of the UAE signed another agreement to have IRIS power their interbank POS switch. Also in 2013, IRIS Payment Platform powered Ufone’s Upayments moved to launch Pakistan’s first ever USSD based B2B payments.

In 2014, we partnered with Access Group to form Covalent, Pakistan’s first local cloud collaboration. Covalent was formed to enable banks and financial institutions to accelerate their digital transformation in the most cost-effective and efficient way.

Also in 2014, the Central Bank of Liberia awarded TPS the project to create an interoperable payment ecosystem in Liberia and bring digital payments and interconnectivity to the banking and telecom community.

MCB Islamic Bank signed us on for our latest payment solutions including Multi-Channel Payment Switch, Card Management System, Digital Banking Solution as well as Multi-Channel Bill Aggregation platform. Waseela Microfinance Bank, now Mobilink Bank, successfully deployed our Next-Generation Payment Platform IRIS, our Digital Banking Solution, PRISM, and our Remittance Processing Solution, Moneta.

Allied Bank and Askari Bank became the first two banks in Pakistan to launch domestic scheme-based PayPak using TPS’s Card Management and Transaction Switching Platform. Meanwhile in Africa, Africa’s leading payment system integrator, Syrse Group, also demonstrated its confidence in the IRIS platform to drive multi-institution payment platform in Africa.

Our project management team received the P@SHA ICT Award for the third consecutive year. The Pakistan Chapter of PMI also honored us with two project management awards: Project of the Year and Project Manager of the Year. The awards were given to recognize excellence in Project Management and for demonstrating superior performance in project management practices which led to exceptional organizational results and contributed in the development of the technology ecosystem of Pakistan.

Meeting the demands of the fast evolving banking industry, we launched our Branchless Banking and Digital Wallet solution in 2017. Oman’s Bank Nizwa and International Bank of Yemen became our first customers to sign for the Digital Wallet platform. In UAE, Ocean Financial Middle East selected to drive prepaid cards services in the region. In Pakistan, The Bank of Punjab, The First Microfinance Bank, Askari Bank Limited and Dubai Islamic Bank signed the agreement to deploy IRIS Multi-Channel Payment Platform.

In 2017, we were also honoured with the FPCCI Achievement Award for the Ecommerce Payment Gateway solution deployed for Jazzcash. The award further strengthened our position as a progressive company that is committed to continuous innovation and superior payment experience.